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Susceptibility to infection with Borrelia afzelii and TLR2 polymorphism in a wild reservoir host
2019
AbstractThe study of polymorphic immune genes in host populations is critical for understanding genetic variation in susceptibility to pathogens. Controlled infection experiments are necessary to separate variation in the probability of exposure from genetic variation in susceptibility to infection, but such experiments are rare for wild vertebrate reservoir hosts and their zoonotic pathogens. The bank vole (Myodes glareolus) is an important reservoir host of Borrelia afzelii, a tick-borne spirochete that causes Lyme disease. Bank vole populations are polymorphic for Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), an innate immune receptor that recognizes bacterial lipoproteins. To test whether the TLR2 polym…
Interface transition checklists in spinal surgery
2016
Issue Recently, quality tools have been promoted to improve patient safety and process efficiency in healthcare. While surgeons primarily focused on surgical issues, like infection rates or implant design, we introduced pre-admission and preoperative checklists in the early 2000s. Initial assessment To assess the efficiency of these tools in a neurosurgical department, we performed a survey of all spinal instrumentation patients operated in 2011 ( n = 147). The results revealed several problems. Choice of solution We consequently redesigned the checklists accompanied by flanking measures, such as written and online accessible standards. Furthermore, the staff was trained to use the update…
Cognitive control in auditory working memory is enhanced in musicians
2010
Musical competence may confer cognitive advantages that extend beyond processing of familiar musical sounds. Behavioural evidence indicates a general enhancement of both working memory and attention in musicians. It is possible that musicians, due to their training, are better able to maintain focus on task-relevant stimuli, a skill which is crucial to working memory. We measured the blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) activation signal in musicians and non-musicians during working memory of musical sounds to determine the relation among performance, musical competence and generally enhanced cognition. All participants easily distinguished the stimuli. We tested the hypothesis that mus…
Genetics of Perceived Family Interaction From 12 to 17 Years of Age
2019
We analyzed how the effects of genetic and environmental factors on the perceptions of family interaction change from early to late adolescence. The data were collected by postal surveys on Finnish twins (N = 4808) at 12, 14 and 17 years of age and analyzed using genetic twin modeling. Additive genetic factors explained a modest share of the variation in perceived relational support (a2 = 0.30 in boys and 0.18 in girls) and relational tensions (a2 = 0.13 and 0.14, respectively) at 12 years of age, with the proportions becoming larger through 17 years of age (a2 = 0.53 in boys and 0.49 in girls for relational support; a2 = 0.35 in boys and 0.33 in girls for relational tensions). Simultaneous…
Study protocol for a multi-component kindergarten-based intervention to promote healthy diets in toddlers: a cluster randomized trial
2016
Background: There is concern about the lack of diversity in children’s diets, particularly low intakes of fruit and vegetables and high intakes of unhealthy processed food. This may be a factor in the rising prevalence of obesity. A reason for the lack of diversity in children’s diets may be food neophobia. This study aimed to promote a healthy and varied diet among toddlers in kindergarten. The primary objectives were to reduce food neophobia in toddlers, and promote healthy feeding practices among kindergarten staff and parents. Secondary objectives were to increase food variety in toddlers’ diets and reduce future overweight and obesity in these children. Methods: This is an ongoing, clu…
Rare variants in the genetic background modulate cognitive and developmental phenotypes in individuals carrying disease-associated variants
2019
Purpose: To assess the contribution of rare variants in the genetic background toward variability of neurodevelopmental phenotypes in individuals with rare copy-number variants (CNVs) and gene-disruptive variants. Methods: We analyzed quantitative clinical information, exome sequencing, and microarray data from 757 probands and 233 parents and siblings who carry disease-associated variants. Results: The number of rare likely deleterious variants in functionally intolerant genes (“other hits”) correlated with expression of neurodevelopmental phenotypes in probands with 16p12.1 deletion (n=23, p=0.004) and in autism probands carrying gene-disruptive variants (n=184, p=0.03) compared with thei…
Determining Factors and Critical Periods in the Formation of Eating Habits: Results from the Habeat Project
2016
Un article correspondant à cette présentation devrait paraître en 2017 dans Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.Un article correspondant à cette présentation devrait paraître en 2017 dans Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism.; Eating habits form early during childhood and are likely to track until the beginning of adulthood. Thus, understanding the formation of eating habits is important. In the HabEat* project we focused on the development of preferences for vegetables since they are the less liked foods for children. Based on the analyses of data from different European cohorts, HabEat found that breast milk may facilitate the consumption of vegetables in later childhood. HabEat found some e…
Longitudinal heritability of childhood aggression
2016
The genetic and environmental contributions to the variation and longitudinal stability in childhood aggressive behavior were assessed in two large twin cohorts, the Netherlands Twin Register (NTR), and the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS; United Kingdom). In NTR, maternal ratings on aggression from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were available for 10,765 twin pairs at age 7, for 8,557 twin pairs at age 9/10, and for 7,176 twin pairs at age 12. In TEDS, parental ratings of conduct disorder from the Strength and Difficulty Questionnaire (SDQ) were available for 6,897 twin pairs at age 7, for 3,028 twin pairs at age 9 and for 5,716 twin pairs at age 12. In both studies, stability and…
Local barrier dysfunction identified by confocal laser endomicroscopy predicts relapse in inflammatory bowel disease
2011
Objectives: Loss of intestinal barrier function plays an important role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Shedding of intestinal epithelial cells is a potential cause of barrier loss during inflammation. The objectives of the study were (1) to determine whether cell shedding and barrier loss in humans can be detected by confocal endomicroscopy and (2) whether these parameters predict relapse of IBD. Methods: Confocal endomicroscopy was performed in IBD and control patients using intravenous fluorescein to determine the relationship between cell shedding and local barrier dysfunction. A grading system based on appearances at confocal endomicroscopy in humans was devise…
Upregulation of antibody response to heat shock proteins and tissue antigens in an ocular ischemia model.
2011
PURPOSE. The aim of this study was to characterize the serum antibody reactivities occurring after ocular ischemia reperfusion. The time course of serum antibody responses was examined. METHODS. Wistar rats were exposed to transient ocular ischemia by elevating intraocular pressure to 130 mm Hg for 60 minutes. Axonal damage was evaluated on optic-nerve sections 2 and 4 weeks later. Blood samples collected before and several times after ischemia were used for antibody detection via customized protein microarrays. Different tissue antigens, including heat shock proteins (HSPs) and crystallins, were selected based on previous identification of antibody reactivities in studies on ischemic event…